Maintaining my weight, help?

rozybeth
rozybeth Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I've been dieting/exercising for around 6 months and thankfully i've gotten to where i want to be!
BUT i have plateaued, and this is not a problem however i'm worried that if i do less exercise/ eat more than before when i was loosing weight i might actually gain it
Height: 5 ft 8.5
current weight: 136 lbs (approx)
weight before: 150 lbs
i try to eat around 1200 cals a day but the net is usually lower due to exercise
also... slightly confused as to whether i have plateaued or my body is in starvation mode?
Please help!

Replies

  • StrictlyPro
    StrictlyPro Posts: 72
    You aren't in starvation mode. You probably have slowed your metabolism a bit. Up calories by 100 per week to within a couple hundred of your estimated maintenance and stay there for a few weeks. Adjust based off of what happens. Expect a few lbs of water weight gain starting out.
  • rozybeth
    rozybeth Posts: 3 Member
    Thank you!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I've been dieting/exercising for around 6 months and thankfully i've gotten to where i want to be!
    BUT i have plateaued, and this is not a problem however i'm worried that if i do less exercise/ eat more than before when i was loosing weight i might actually gain it
    Height: 5 ft 8.5
    current weight: 136 lbs (approx)
    weight before: 150 lbs
    i try to eat around 1200 cals a day but the net is usually lower due to exercise
    also... slightly confused as to whether i have plateaued or my body is in starvation mode?
    Please help!

    your maintnenance should be double what you're eating now... feed your poor starving body!
  • wynn217
    wynn217 Posts: 53 Member
    I don't mean to sound like a dingbat, but once the weight is lost, wouldn't upping your calories just put weight right back on? I am confused...thanks for any insight.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    1200 net is very low for someone your height and age - how long have you been at this plateau?
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
    I don't mean to sound like a dingbat, but once the weight is lost, wouldn't upping your calories just put weight right back on? I am confused...thanks for any insight.

    Consistently eating over puts the weight back on... but finding the balance is dynamic. We have days where we move more and do more and days where we are stuck in a chair at work or family time,etc. Maintenance is about learning to eat not just to stay at the same weight but to eat enough to fuel your activity for the day. But none of us want to end up at below a healthy weight - it's a very personal thing to figure out how many calories should be your daily goal and not be scared to see the scale go up, that means you need to move more, check the sodium level, or heck, maybe you are gained more lean muscle, a good thing.
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    You have the same stats as me, I am just ONE lb lighter!!!!!

    1200 calories is not enough

    You need to change your 'Goals' on here to maintenance and it will tell you how many calories to eat. I would say anywhere from 1500-1700 a day for maintenance
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I've been dieting/exercising for around 6 months and thankfully i've gotten to where i want to be!
    BUT i have plateaued, and this is not a problem however i'm worried that if i do less exercise/ eat more than before when i was loosing weight i might actually gain it
    Height: 5 ft 8.5
    current weight: 136 lbs (approx)
    weight before: 150 lbs
    i try to eat around 1200 cals a day but the net is usually lower due to exercise
    also... slightly confused as to whether i have plateaued or my body is in starvation mode?
    Please help!

    your maintnenance should be double what you're eating now... feed your poor starving body!

    FOR YOU. When I was in my 20s that would have been true. Hit 40 and metabolism slowed down and I gained 5 pounds eating the same. Hit 50 and gained 15 eating less.

    I had to net just over 1200 to lose the weight. I had never dieted before. I am not sedentary (though I had to set my stats that way to lose). Bodies differ.

    I would also note that you can eat well, love food, and still net 1200 - 1300. Especially if you exercise a lot.

    To the OP. You are at a nice weight for your height. That doesn't sound like a plateau - it sounds like you have hit where your body should be and you can start upping your calories so you are no longer at a deficit. Add 100/day for a few weeks and see how that goes. Then add more and see how that works. You have to find a balance that works for your body.
  • PippiNe
    PippiNe Posts: 283 Member
    If you still want to go for additional weight loss, one idea to break a plateau is to totally change your workout routine. I had been doing half-hour circuit training Jillian Michaels dvd workouts for 2 1/2 months when I plateaued. I kept gaining and losing the same two pounds. Two weeks ago, I changed up my workout to doing 2 days in a row of strength training (40 minute workouts) followed by 2 days in a row of cardio (50 minute workouts).Over this past week I lost 4 lbs. It seemed like my body had gotten used to my routine and just stopped dropping the weight.

    Just a thought if you still wanted to go for more weight loss.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    I don't mean to sound like a dingbat, but once the weight is lost, wouldn't upping your calories just put weight right back on? I am confused...thanks for any insight.

    No. If you create a 500 calorie daily deficit you will lose 1 lb per week. This would happen if, say, your maintenance calories were 2000 calories daily and you eat only 1500 calories daily until you've lost all the weight you should lose. To stop the weight loss, you would then need to increase calories back up to 2000 calories daily in order to actually maintain weight.

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